Juror: Bargo's face-to-face with Jackson key in death recommendation

Wednesday

Aug 28, 2013 at 9:33 PM

The juror pointed to a number of pieces of evidence that suggested the murder was calculated.

By April WarrenStaff writer

One of the 12 jurors who found Michael Bargo guilty in the murder of 15-year-old Seath Jackson last week said the jury rejected the defense's claims that Bargo was an unwilling participant in an episode that spiraled out of control.

“Looking at all the evidence, especially at the crime scene, all of that was planned out and everything,” said the male juror, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Even when it didn't go according to plan at one point, he was able to change it up a bit.”

The juror pointed to a number of pieces of evidence that suggested the murder was calculated, noting that Seath's body was mutilated and placed in a sleeping bag to contain the blood, and that the Summerfield home where the attack occurred was thoroughly cleaned afterward.

“If it was spur of the moment, the house wouldn't have been so clean,” he said.

He also noted that Bargo reloaded the gun while firing eight shots into Seath.

“He could have stopped right there,” the juror said.

After Bargo was convicted, the same jurors were asked to recommend life in prison or death. They recommended a death sentence by a 10-2 vote. Circuit Judge David Eddy will make the final decision on Sept. 11.

The sheer brutality of the crime made a strong impression on the jury.

The juror recalled that after being ambushed, Seath ran from the house but was chased down and dragged back inside by Bargo and the others. Co-defendant Kyle Hooper testified that Bargo wanted Seath alive in the bathtub so Seath would know who killed him.

“That was a sure sign he wanted to completely go through with it and he wanted (Seath to know who) killed him,” the juror said. “After all that together, I had to say death.”

The man admitted that he briefly felt a twinge of sympathy for Bargo during testimony that he was homeless. But his sympathy eroded once he realized Bargo could have stayed at his grandmother's but chose not to.

“We didn't have sympathy because he could have stayed there but he decided to leave so he could do what he wanted.”

The juror said he also combed through Bargo's school records and discovered that Bargo improved several times, only to fall back into bad habits. “(This) showed he could have changed his life but he decided not to,” said the juror, a point the state emphasized repeatedly in the penalty phase.

In a last-ditch effort to save himself, Bargo took the stand and offered excessive testimony. The jurors didn't find him believable.

“We could clearly tell everything he said was a lie,” the juror said, later recognizing that some parts were accurate.

Bargo had said the use of methamphetamine and other drugs was rampant in Charlie Ely's Summerfield home, but the juror said pictures of the co-defendants did not show evidence of facial scars or extremely skinny individuals that are consistent with this type of drug use.

He also pointed to Bargo's claim that he left the house that night after being beat up by Hooper, only to instruct his father to bring him back to the house later. Bargo's mug shot from the Marion County Jail also showed no signs of bruises from a beating, but rather scarring that would have been consistent with something flying up into his face, possibly from the fire.

Hooper took the stand in the guilt phase and gave his own version of the night's events.

“We believed Kyle Hooper because he was already sentenced,” the juror said.

According to the juror, while Bargo and his father pointed to his mother, Tracey O'Brien, as the cause of much of the tension in Bargo's life, the juror pointed out school records show she was trying to help her son. “It looked like the dad was more of a friend than being an actual dad,” the juror said.

During about nine hours of combined jury deliberations, a possibility arose about one aspect of the murder that neither side had presented. On the night of Bargo's arrest, a photograph of his hand shows a round slice in his finger. Bargo claimed that Hooper had pushed the gun into his hand. The state said the mark was inflicted during the altercation with Seath. But at least one juror had another hypothesis.

“It could have been that Seath tried to grab the gun and put it away,” he said.